Yankees: Dellin Betances out for the season with a partially torn achilles

Just two days after he made his season debut Dellin Betances’ season is officially over. Following Tuesdays night’s win 8-0 over the Angels, the Yankees announced the All-Star right-hander suffered a partially torn Achilles on Sunday.

What a brutal blow for Betances and the Yankees. After battling his way back from injury all season long Dellin had finally made it back to the Yankee bullpen at the perfect time with the playoffs just a couple of weeks away.

Now he’s done for the year and could end up needing surgery which would likely keep him out for some of next season as well. Betances suffered the partial tear after he struck out Brandon Drury on Sunday and did a little celebratory hop off the mound thinking there were three outs. Betances himself laughed at his mental blunder before Aaron Boone removed him from the game after he struck out the only two batters he faced.

Baseball can be such a cruel game sometimes and for Betances, this injury couldn’t have come at a worse possible time. Not only was he set to play a big role out of the Yankees pen this October but this offseason he’ll be a free agent for the first time in his career.

Missing the entire season up until Sunday undoubtedly already hurt his value heading into the winter, but he was going to have a chance to make up for lost time and increase his stock this postseason. For him to be robbed of that opportunity, after all he’s been through this season and over the last couple of years with arbitration is just heartbreaking.

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Moving forward the Yankees will certainly miss Dellin, but they still feature one of the best bullpens in baseball without him so they should be ok just as they have been all year. The pitching staff as a whole is still in good shape heading into the postseason, especially now that their ace Luis Severino is back. Sevy looked outstanding in his season debut last night throwing four scoreless innings and striking out four while only allowing two hits.

As for Betances, it’s hard to say what the future holds for him in pinstripes with free agency looming. Since 2014 he’s been one of the top five relievers in baseball but now it’s unlikely he’ll ever get the chance to be paid like one.

My hope is that the Yankees resign him to one of those two year deals with a team option for the second year. That’s probably the best route for him to take because he isn’t going to get any multi-year offers for big money from clubs when he probably won’t pitch at all next season.

You know Betances doesn’t ever want to leave New York because it’s where he’s lived his whole life. He belongs in pinstripes, so hopefully, the Yankees do the right thing and bring him back and he when he returns he’ll be stronger and better than ever before.